Okay so on Friday night I had a little too much fun and had Wendy's after. Talking full carbs here. I have not had this many carbs since January. Now I am sluggish and tired. Maybe I am just burned out from events in my life but could having carbs after not for so long mess me up like this? I was really dizzy on Sat morning too. This is my first foray into this lifestyle.

Yes, eating carbs after cutting them out makes many of us feel TERRIBLE! I haven't actually done it myself yet thankfully, but I see plenty of people on here complaining about how bad they feel after a "cheat" day... normally the cravings come back before they subside too. Hang in there, and fight off the bad reaction though... you'll be back to normal in no time!

Carbs make me crave carbs for several days. I haven't had wheat based carbs in over a year and a half so I don't know what effect they would have. Wheat makes me sick so they are not much of a temptation.

I, too, had a Wendy's breakdown Saturday night after a concert. It put me at 115 carbs for the day (way above my normal 20-30). Luckily, I still tested in ketosis 12hrs after the binge (upon waking up).

I feel just like you described when I'm kicked out of ketosis. I had another whole day carb binge a few weeks ago (vs. just one meal) which threw me out of ketosis for a day and a half according to the strips. For that time, I was lethargic, felt quite depressed (not because I felt like a failure for eating that way, but because of the chemical reactions from eating that way), and had major "mental fog" until I was back in ketosis.

Of course, even having that experience didn't prevent me from my Wendy's meal binge. I decided the deliciousness of my favorite fast food place (which I hadn't consumed for years) outweighed the negatives of being thrown out of ketosis temporarily. To my surprise, when I woke up the next day, I noticed I felt the same mentally as I do in ketosis (which the testing strip confirmed I was still in). I can't imagine my body is tolerant at the 115 level of carbs, so I must have just slept through the "carb crash" (thankful for that) and been back in ketosis upon waking.

Either way, I understand and can affirm that I have similar experiences when I consume carbs (to the level of throwing myself out of ketosis, higher carb days [35-50] alone won't cause me the "carb crash" -- or it could be the quality of the carbs too). But just realize that one or two meals off plan won't reverse a more consistent path of good eating, and you'll likely be out of that carb haze within 24-48 hours, especially if it's easy for you to get right back on track the next day.

If I allow myself those cheats, I just try to accept I'll have a "carb hangover" as a consequence... which usually makes it quite easy to deter a carb binge. But... I couldn't stay strong against the Wendy's value menu haha.

I, too, had a Wendy's breakdown Saturday night after a concert. It put me at 115 carbs for the day (way above my normal 20-30). Luckily, I still tested in ketosis 12hrs after the binge (upon waking up).

I feel just like you described when I'm kicked out of ketosis. I had another whole day carb binge a few weeks ago (vs. just one meal) which threw me out of ketosis for a day and a half according to the strips. For that time, I was lethargic, felt quite depressed (not because I felt like a failure for eating that way, but because of the chemical reactions from eating that way), and had major "mental fog" until I was back in ketosis.

Of course, even having that experience didn't prevent me from my Wendy's meal binge. I decided the deliciousness of my favorite fast food place (which I hadn't consumed for years) outweighed the negatives of being thrown out of ketosis temporarily. To my surprise, when I woke up the next day, I noticed I felt the same mentally as I do in ketosis (which the testing strip confirmed I was still in). I can't imagine my body is tolerant at the 115 level of carbs, so I must have just slept through the "carb crash" (thankful for that) and been back in ketosis upon waking.

Either way, I understand and can affirm that I have similar experiences when I consume carbs (to the level of throwing myself out of ketosis, higher carb days [35-50] alone won't cause me the "carb crash" -- or it could be the quality of the carbs too). But just realize that one or two meals off plan won't reverse a more consistent path of good eating, and you'll likely be out of that carb haze within 24-48 hours, especially if it's easy for you to get right back on track the next day.

If I allow myself those cheats, I just try to accept I'll have a "carb hangover" as a consequence... which usually makes it quite easy to deter a carb binge. But... I couldn't stay strong against the Wendy's value menu haha.

It's usually between 1400-1800. Low days it ends up in the 1200-1300, the highest day I've had in the past month was 2150.

Thanks

I have had a thought clanking around in my head about carb reactions like yours. I'm thinking that a big calorie deficit combined with a long period of LC minimizes the after affects of a smallish binge. Like maybe two to three hundred carb binge versus a lot more of a carb binge.

Constant big calorie deficits means the body is hungry for the energy already. A long period of LC means the metabolism may have gone a long ways towards restoring normalcy for handling carbs and the cells are a lot less insulin resistant.

Dunno. I've seen posts from lots of people that get mild to moderately sick on a carb binge. But how much did they binge, how long had they been LC and how much of an average calorie deficit had they been maintaining? Interesting stuff

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I do keep a daily count of my calorie in-take as well as my carb in-take if you want more specifics for your theory. I have the tracker I use set at 1700 calories per day as my limit and I'm often under it, but have gone over it on a few occasions so it's easier for me to do ranges off the top of my head.

The first carb binge I had was only about a week and a half into being dedicated to LC--so that fits with a lot of your idea. And it was a whole day, not just a meal. Then it was about 2.5 weeks after that when I had the Wendy's one meal binge.

Feel free to private message me or what not for details. Some if it is posted in my journal over in that topic area, might give you a better idea.

Maybe someone on the forum will know more scientific specifics behind this?